Michigan

Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio has been just as thorough in his team preparation this spring as he was for the Spartans' Rose Bowl game against Stanford on Jan. 1 in Pasadena, Calif.
(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

EAST LANSING — Coach Mark Dantonio delegates a fair amount to his coordinators and assistant coaches, but Thursday's football activity was his call.

Michigan State held an unscheduled closed scrimmage on Thursday at Spartan Stadium, according to a source with knowledge of stadium activity.

Dantonio and defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi have both said throughout spring drills that they were not satisfied with the consistency of the Spartans' defense.

Dantonio has made mention of the defense allowing big plays, and Narduzzi said after the second scheduled scrimmage of the spring on April 12 that he was displeased with the effort.

It was the Spartans first time playing in Spartan Stadium this spring. Weather forced the first scrimmage to be held inside the Duffy Daugherty Football Building on April 4, while work on the north end zone project led to the second scrimmage taking place on the practice fields.

A practice was originally scheduled for Thursday — not a scrimmage — but as Dantonio has shown in the past, he'll go to whatever lengths he feels necessary to get the team prepared to his satisfaction.

Last spring, Dantonio took the inordinate step of making all of his quarterbacks "live" throughout spring drills with hopes of separating them in the competition for playing time.

The move paid off, as a battle-tested Michigan State team won a school-record 13 games last season including the Big Ten championship game and Rose Bowl en route to a No. 3-national ranking.

This spring's biggest issue has been solving the linebacking corps. Senior Taiwan Jones is transitioning from outside linebacker to middle linebacker, leading to an entirely new look for that unit.

The Spartans lost six starters off last season's elite defense, which ranked No. 1 in total defense throughout the regular season and heading into the Rose Bowl and finished ranked in the top three in all four major statistical categories.

Michigan State resumes spring drills with practice on Tuesday, followed by the players' draft for the Green and White Game on Wednesday, and then there will be a final practice on Thursday.

Spring drills finish next Saturday at 2 p.m. with the Green and White Game at Spartan Stadium.

Dantonio has reached out to the Michigan State fan base, requesting 50,000 be in attendance for the spring game.

Penn State, Ohio State and Nebraska all drew upwards of 60,000 for their respective spring games, and Dantonio is hopeful the Spartans' fans will make a statement with their attendance and support at Spartan Stadium.